In the 17th and 18th centuries the principal Russian
interest in Siberia was the highly profitable fur trade. Great quantities of
Siberian furs were exported, first to Europe and later to China. During this
period the Russian population of Siberia remained small, limited by difficult
communications, harsh climatic conditions, and restrictions on migration from
European Russia. Large-scale migration began only in the mid-19th century; it
grew spectacularly in the last few decades of czarist rule. This influx was
encouraged by overpopulation in some areas of European Russia, the abolition
of serfdom in 1861, and the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway from 1891
to 1900, which greatly facilitated transportation and communications.

The use of Siberian exile for punishment of criminals and political offenders
began almost immediately after the conquest, but accelerated with the rise of
the Russian revolutionary movement in the 19th century.

The
Trans-Siberian Railway greatly influenced the composition and size of the
population of Siberia.

After the railroads completion in the early 1900s, Russian people migrated
to Siberia in much larger numbers than before, greatly increasing Russian
presence in the region. Tsar Alexander III conceived of the railroad in the late
19th century, and construction on several sections took place simultaneously.

The Trans-Siberian Railroad links the economy of Siberia with the rest of the
world. The railroad, which has fueled the development of trades and industries
in Siberia, has led to an associated population growth in the region. The
longest railroad in the world, the 8000 km (5000 mi) Trans-Siberian crosses a
vast area made up mostly of the Asian part of the former Soviet Union.

Irkutsk portion of the old Trans-Siberian railway, in the area of the
newly-built bridge.

Old water drainage under railway.

Circumbaikal Railway

The
construction of the Circumbaikal Railway
encouraged the further investigation of the lake. A large hydrogeographical
expedition headed by F. Drizhenko (1896-1902) gave a detailed atlas of the
Baikal depths and its sailing directions that are used by the Baikal sailors up
to this day.

The construction of the Circumbaikal Railway as part of Trans-Siberian
Railway (the section from Port Baikal on the south-western shore of the lake) to
Mysovaya Station (on the south-eastern shore) took 4 years.

Ancient crystal rocks, granite, gneiss, gabbro, diabases, possess enormous strength;
the steep rocky shores precipitously go under water, forcing railroad builders
to make excavations and niches in rocky cliffs, and to construct arches and
tunnels. The railway is 84 km long. It includes not only Russian engineering
design of that time but also the hard work of Russian, Polish, Italian and English
workers. The Circumbaikal Railway needed 200 bridges and 33 tunnels. Within
the 56-mile section from Kultuk to Port Baikal alone there are 48 arches and
tunnels. And how many bridges and supporting walls! It is no coincidence that
this part is rightly regarded as the museum of Russian engineering thought,
and foreign tourists respectfully name it the golden buckle of the Great Siberian
Trail.

was under construction, the Russian government placed
an order in Newcastle, England, for a ferry/ice-breaker Baikal, which
could hold 24 cars and one locomotive on its middle deck. It took the ice-breaker
4 hours to carry the train from one shore to the other. Up to 1916 the icebreaker
served on the railway as a reserve variant because trains used to come off the
rails frequently. The icebreaker was destroyed by burning during the Civil War.

The ice-breaker "Angara" 10 years ago.

The ice-breaker "Angara" now

Three years later after Baikal, an ice-breaker Angara was also
built in England for carrying cargo and passengers. Both of these Baikal
giants were assembled in Listvyanka, on the southwestern shore of the
lake, where a shipyard was built especially for this purpose.

The railway, its construction and exploitation, had been preceeded by great
scientific activities in investigating the geology, hydrology, climate, and
seismics of Baikal on the whole, as well as the territory throughout which
the road was lain and exploited for years.

The old bridge

If you are going to travel along the
Old Circumbaikal Railway you can download a detailed map //(1066Kb) of
it by clicking here:

Before the commissioning of a Circumbaikal railway
in 1905, the "Baikal" together with the ferry-icebreaker "Angara"
crossed the lake twice a day, connecting the coasts and transporting cargo on
the Baikal.